Jason's JRN 301 Blog

     Remember Paul Saffo’s 30-year rule? Well, while it may take most technological ideas an average of thirty years to seep into a culture or society, there’s one that has fallen more than two decades below that average: Pandora.com. With close to 30 million accounts to date, it seems like this breakthrough has emerged overnight. Not so, however. Although Pandora was launched in 2005 for everyone to use, it was thought of five years before then. Now, with the revolutionary premise of user control of radio, the rate of Pandora’s adoption into society is quickening.

     Here are the five characteristics incorporated into Saffo’s rule that help explain Pandora’s fast adoption rate:

     Relative Advantage: The main advantage that Pandora has over other pick-and-choose Internet radio sites like TagWorld and Last.fm is its automatic delivery of personalized stations. Once the user creates his or her perfect library of stations, all that needs to be done is to sit back, relax and enjoy.

     Compatibility: People just don’t listen to Pandora; Pandora listens to people. Based on feedback from listeners, such as favoring or “unfavoring” a particular track via clicking either the thumbs up or thumbs down button, the stations that users create will be refined to their utmost liking.

     Complexity: Operating Pandora is very simplistic. Much like watching a video on YouTube, station tracks can be paused and skipped. Many options are provided to listeners at the click of a button, such as “Add Variety to this Station” or “Delete this Station.”

     Reliability: Pandora is based on the Music Genome Project started in January 2000 by Tim Westergren. The project’s goal is to study and collect details, such as melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, and lyrics, and tailor each to match the desires of listeners. Fifty musician-analysts listen to every song, new and old, and study over 400 of their attributes for 20-30 minutes.

     Observability: Before Pandora launched on the Internet in 2005 as a free radio program, listeners of traditional radio, whether in their car or on their computer, may have eagerly awaited their favorite. With no way to manipulate the airwaves, they might never hear what they want. So, with the introduction of the program, based in Oakland, California, more and more people’s desires to control what they listen to FOR FREE were fulfilled. And, since Pandora’s launch in 2005, it has really taken off. Tim Westergren reported to hispanicbusiness.com that the Web site sees 50,000-60,000 new accounts made daily.

     Despite such positives for Pandora, it does have its limitations. There’s no rewind, repeat or specific points of the track that you choose to play. Users are only allowed a certain amount of skips per month. And, no matter how many categories are created, one artist can’t be played continuously. 

     Pandora, advantages and disadvantages, almost went out of business thanks to expensive royalty payments to record labels. However, it reached an agreement with SoundExchange, a company that collects the royalties on behalf of the labels. This is what Westergren had to say about it on Pandora’s site:

     Webcasters, artists, and record labels have reached a resolution to the calamitous Internet radio royalty ruling of 2007. Pandora is finally on safe ground with a long-term agreement for survivable royalty rates. This ensures that Pandora will continue streaming music for many years to come!

     Nonetheless, the amount Pandora must still pay a significant fee to SoundExchange, enough that advertising revenue won’t completely cover the cost. As a result, a free account user is limited to 40 hours of listening per month. Users can continue unlimited streaming for the month by paying $0.99.

     While a free subscription is supported by advertisements, a fee-based subscription without ads is another form of revenue for Pandora. This upgrade, known as “Pandora One”, costs $36 a year and increases bit rate to 192 kbps.